My Grandmother (father's Mother) and her Mother often visited.
I used to sit right at Big Ma's feet as she sat in the wicker rocker. She was my Great Grandmother.
She was born when there was no electricity. She raised her siblings. Of couse, there was an outhouse, a wooden shack where you went potty outside.
One day, when my Dad was a boy, at dinner, my Dad patiently, but quickly was eating, but there was someone missing at the table.
Everyone asked, where's Baba, my great grandmother's husband!
My Dad continued to eat until they asked again, this time, with stress in their voice.
My Dad said, looking up from his plate calmly, “Oh, I locked him in the outhouse.”. “Why on Earth would you do that?” Someone asked.
“Well, I just wanted to know where he would be!” came my father's reply, to which everyone had a good laugh.
Someone of course, mercifully let my Great Grandfather out.
Big Ma had lived through quite a few Depressions, of course, the Great one of 1929.
But there were others in the 1880s.
She was alive through many events historically.
JFK assasination, MLK's, and Robert Kennedy's assasination were all low points in this Country's history.
But there were highs as well. The introductions of life changing inventions, not the least of it being electricity, telephones, and eventually radio anf television. Not even mentioning the changes in transportation, from horses to cars. And there were lots of trolleys.
The movies were a solice during the Great Depression. Not only could you forget about life for awhile, but you could also cool off, as the theaters were the first with air condtioning, a life saver during the hot summer months.
The biggest thing for Big Ma might have been electricity, but for me being born in the 1950’s, my great point was the moon landing, which I witnessed with Big Ma and Grandma.
Can you imagine living that whole time period and seeing all those things and more?
My Dad used to say Big Ma was always old. I think at his age, like kids of today, anyone over 30 was considered old!